Stef's Blog - a native London Southlander and unrepentant 'Conspiraloon™' who doesn't trust anyone, not even himself. Sometimes I take pictures. I also enjoy swearing immensely and think much faster than I can type, so each post comes guaranteed to include at last one confusing typo. OK?

The Corrections Department has defended the actions of two staff members who attended a work Christmas function dressed as former prison inmates Ahmed Zouai and David Bain.

The staff members turned up as asylum seeker (and alleged terrorist) Zouai and accused murderer Bain for a themed party where head office staff dressed up as their favourite notable New Zealanders.

National Party Corrections spokesman Simon Power said the workers' choice of dress was irresponsible given their role in a government justice organisation.

However, Corrections acting chief executive Phil McCarthy told the Dominion Post newspaper the pair were juniors and not directly involved in managing offenders, even though most staff went as sportspeople.

"In the context of a staff Christmas party, I don't think it matters a jot."

It would be different if the two workers were employed as probation officers or warders, or had had contact with the former inmates, he said.

However "they're as likely to have been a clerk or information officer".

The pair were simply masquerading in costume -- "in David Bain's case it involved no more than a rather large cardigan", Mr McCarthy said.

He said he did not know how Ahmed Zaoui had dressed but said "a certain physical resemblance" was thought to have been the biggest motivation for the costumes.

and for anyone not up to speed with fascinating story of David Bain you can either check out his Wikipedia entry here or, alternatively, a blog post which attempts to collate every sick joke about Bain ever cracked in New Zealand

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and commiserations to my Kiwi friends over the tragic news of the recent death of that great New Zealander and leading exponent of the national haircut - Sir Edmund Hillary

Truly the end of an era, and a reminder of more innocent times when leaving someone to die on a mountainside because you were in a bit of a hurry wasn't a prerequisite for having a movie made about your climbing exploits

A Tauranga pensioner feels "violated" after armed police stormed his home, "trashed" the place, and left with three jackets and an air rifle.

Clive Martin, 67, said he learned from neighbours that the armed offenders squad had raided his property on Tuesday afternoon while he was out.

His home is one of dozens police are searching as part of a massive operation after the discovery of alleged weapons training camps in the Bay of Plenty.

Police have so far made 17 arrests.

Mr Martin's Redmond St home was left with a smashed window, a broken window latch and a mess in his shed after the raid. He said he was upset when he found a 20-page search warrant sitting on his table stating there "is reasonable ground for believing" there were items inside which were an offence relating to either "participating in a terrorist group", or the unlawful possession of firearms or restricted weapons.

The warrant stated the home could contain clothing from "camps" in January and June this year, which Mr Martin said he had no involvement in.

Other items suspected of being at the property are detailed on the warrant's four-page list of military-style equipment, some of which has appeared on the internet auction website Trade Me.

Mr Martin said he had no idea why his home was searched and was "gutted" police had linked him to people potentially involved in terrorist crimes.

"It is a big mystery and I feel violated. As far as I'm concerned, I've been violated," he said. "They've trashed my house. I just vacuumed it out - there's dirty mud all over the floor. They've trashed my shed, they've trashed my linen cupboard."

Police took an old oilskin jacket, a raincoat, a polarfleece jacket and magnets that he used to hold loose change. They also took an air rifle...

Part of the Polartec TerrorFleece™ range - absolutely lethal in trained and desperate hands(though, obviously, still not a patch on the ultimate WMD that is the awesome Delta 6250 - aka 'Satan's lunchbox')

4 comments:

In The Graun article about prostitution this week, a beuatiful piece of condescencion was well answered.'New Zealand is too far away from the main markets for sex traffickers to generate profits in the way they can in Britain. As a small country, where people know each other well, there are strong social....'.I am a New Zealander. Mactaggart writes about the country as if we live in the year 1808, not 2008. There are 4 million people in the country and we do not "know each other well".......She presents the country as if Lord of the Rings was a documentary and we all live in Shire like Frodo. How can legislation even be proposed by someone who is so ill informed?'.http://tinyurl.com/2ewqcd

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